


a new pal

by wjjmwmsn5



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: M/M, Trans Poe Dameron, except his buddies, poe’s like a big brother to the ENTIRETY of the resistane, reylos don't interact, the finnpoe isn’t very much but it’s there and it’s valid, to them he is a dork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 06:49:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13653678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wjjmwmsn5/pseuds/wjjmwmsn5
Summary: There’s a shy new x-wing pilot in the resistance, and Poe wants to be a good commander. Or: the one where Poe is a good big brother, and he bonds with this new buddy over being trans pilot dorks.





	a new pal

**Author's Note:**

> my url on tumblr is transpoedameron if you wanna request something/talk to me there!!! 
> 
> this was fun to write i’m love trans poe i’m love poe i’m love star wars

Poe Dameron took pride in easing all new recruits into the resistance, and he liked to think that he took all of them under his wing equally in the beginning, to the best of his ability. He didn’t want to be a scary commander, except definitely to the First Order. 

But he had a soft spot for x-wing pilots. Maybe he was biased. 

The newest recruit—whose newness was evident from the way they swiftly took their food from the cafeteria to eat in their room at mealtimes or from the way they disappeared into the farthest corner of the room as was possible—was an x-wing pilot. From what Poe had quietly observed, they were shy. They were young for a recruit, but a good pilot. And they didn’t seem to know anyone or to be getting to know anyone around the base. 

So one day at lunch, after Poe plopped his tray down at the table with Rey—Finn, Jessika, and Rose were all still in line—he stood right back up, food back in hand, and said, “I’ll be back.” 

He crossed the room to the farthest table where they were sitting alone, a friendly smile on his face. “Can I sit with you?” he asked. He quickly added, “You’re not in trouble, buddy, I just want to introduce myself.”

Leia had known his mother, but he was sure that if he was joining a resistance base he was totally unfamiliar with and a commander had asked if they could sit with him at lunch, his panic mode would be activated instantly. 

They looked up at him with wide eyes and red cheeks. “I know who you are,” they said finally after a moment’s pause. They sat up straighter and pulled their tray closer to themselves. “I mean, yeah. Go ahead.” 

Poe sat down across from them and reached his hand across the table. “I’m Poe,” he said. 

They shook his hand, eyes still wide. “Jonah Remex.” They drew their hand back, their eyes not leaving him as if they would miss something if they looked away from him for one moment. “I’m sorry, Commander Dameron, but have I done something wrong?”

“Poe,” he told them, feeling uncomfortable with the sound of  _ Commander Dameron  _ in a casual situation like this. “It’s just like I said, though. I just wanted to say hi. I always try to introduce myself to the new people, especially the x-wing pilots.” He grinned at them, hoping to create some kind of camaraderie over their similarity. 

They smiled back a little bit, giving a short nod of the head. “Yeah.” They looked down and let out a short breath. “Sorry, I don’t mean  __ to sound so uncomfortable, I just… really look up to you… Poe.” 

Now it was his turn to pause and process this. The recruits always respected him for his superiority in the ranks, and his welcoming while they were new, but none of them had come right out and said that they looked up to him—not in such a way as Jonah, like he was a role model or something. He didn’t see himself as a role model. He just did his job for the galaxy, and that was what they were all doing. Hell, he thought it was more inspiring to see all the new young people, and what it was in their hearts that wouldn’t allow them to watch as the First Order spread their reign of terror. He found hope in seeing them lay their hearts out in the sky in training and missions. But… he made someone else feel that way?

“You look up to me?” he asked, faltering now and leaning forward slightly. 

Jonah chuckled nervously and ran a hand through their short hair. “Yeah, I mean… lots of people have heard of you,” they said. “You’re a really good pilot, and… well, I’m trans.” 

Poe was thrown for another loop, and paused for even longer now, looking at Jonah like they weren’t speaking any language he could understand. “You mean…?” 

“My older brother was a pilot here, a bomber, and he would tell me all about you sometimes,” Jonah said, speaking faster now that they seemed to find something that they could talk about without pausing to consider the words, something certain. “I think he looked up to you too. And he knew that I would.” 

He had always been proud of his identity and had never let it be a secret—it wasn’t like there was an animosity in the resistance, anyway, but he understood that some people were wary of certain planets’ cultures, or the regressive attitudes of some factions of the First Order. But to think that he had inspired an aspiring pilot with his flight and his pride? He didn’t know how to feel, or how to process how he  _ was  _ feeling, except that his heart was warm. 

“What was your brother’s name?” he asked, not wanting to leave a silence sitting for too long.

“Desda.”

Poe nodded, recognizing the name  _ Desda Remex  _ now that it was pieced together in his mind. “I remember him,” he said. “He went off to— what was it, exactly?” 

“He and his wife had a baby,” Jonah said. “Desda doesn’t want to miss her because he’s here.”

Poe nodded in understanding. He did remember talking to a Desda, and remembered congratulating him before he left. “Well, hey,” he said, trying to regain the confidence he had coming over here. He hadn’t been thrown for this much of a loop since Finn asked him out, and he stumbled around the word “yes” for a solid two minutes. He smiled at them. “I’m really honored, buddy.”

Jonah smiled a little bit and ran a hand through their hair, a nervous tick that Poe suspected came before they said anything nerve-wracking. “You look almost as shocked as I feel.”

Poe’s laugh was short and breathy, an exhale of amusement. “It’s not every day you hear you’re someone’s role model.”

“It’s not every day your role model comes and has lunch with you,” Jonah retorted.

He grinned at Jonah and shrugged. “Don’t be shocked. I’m nowhere near as scary as General Leia,” he promised them. “Wait until you have to have a one-on-one with her.” He leaned closer to the table again. “I swear her angry eyes could kill someone on sight. She doesn’t even need to yell.”

Jonah smiled again, a little less tightly. It seemed like they were more comfortable now, not sitting up quite as straight or acting quite as much like they were going to be kicked out of the resistance if they spoke wrong. 

Poe glanced over at his table, where Rey, Rose, Jessika, and Finn were all laughing about something. “Hey, why don’t we go over to my friends?” he asked, knowing that Jonah would get along with them. 

Jonah looked in that direction as well. “Okay,” they said, standing up as Poe did. 

The four of them were still laughing as Poe slid in next to Finn, and Jonah took the seat next to him. “What’s up?” he asked, smiling. 

Finn bumped their shoulders together, a big grin on his face as his laughter died down. “Nothing, nothing,” he said. “Just an inside joke.”

Poe rolled his eyes, knowing that it must have been about him. “Oh, an inside joke, huh?” 

Jessika looked to Jonah, who had sat across from her, and reached a hand out for them to shake. “You’re Jonah, right?” she asked. “I’ve seen you flying. You’re pretty good.” 

Poe knew it was a way to move on from what they had been laughing about, but he didn’t want to launch into a conversation without introducing Jonah to the rest of the people at the table anyway. Jonah shook Jessika’s hand with a timid smile and nodded. 

“I’m Jessika Pava, and this is Rey, and this is Rose,” she said, motioning to everyone on her side of the table. She pointed over to Finn and Poe leaned back a bit so Jonah could see him. “That’s Finn.”

“Hi,” Jonah said, waving around as their hand was relinquished from Jessika’s grasp. 

“We were laughing about how big of a dork Poe is,” Jessika said with a smile in his direction. 

He rolled his eyes at them, but before he could step in to defend himself from accusations of how dorky he was—all of which were false, he was ready to assure Jonah—Rey leaned forward at the table, eyes on Jonah, and said, “Once, during training, Finn came to watch Poe fly around and Poe nearly crashed the ship to wave at him.”

That was true, and he wanted to say “in my defense,” but there was nothing in his defense. He really had nearly fallen. If Finn being distractingly cute was a good defense, that was definitely what happened and what pulled his attention away from the flight at hand, but he didn’t know if that would help his case any. 

Besides, if he minded a little teasing at his expense that would maybe help Jonah feel more comfortable in the group, he would say, but he definitely didn’t.

“Wait until you hear his jokes,” Finn added. “They’re terrible.”

Poe pointed over at Finn. “You know that’s not true. All of you were laughing at my joke this morning.”

Jessika looked at Jonah. “Do you want to know what that joke was? He said, in a meeting with his whole squadron, Leia, Ackbar, and several other people, ‘Leia, I can’t see you!’ and she said ‘why?’ and he said ‘I realize now that maybe this joke should’ve had a little bit more explanation beforehand, but you’re like my resistance mom and I’m trans.’ That was the joke, Jonah.” 

Jonah cracked a smile and glanced sheepily over at Poe, obviously at a loss for words.

“It was funny. Isn’t it funny?” he said, glancing around the table for some sympathy about his poorly-executed but still-hilarious joke. He looked to Rose. “You laughed a lot, Rose.”

She looked between Jessika and Poe, trying to decide whose side was better to take at the moment, though a small smile was creeping onto her face. Maybe in remembrance of the joke.  _ Definitely  _ in remembrance of the joke, in Poe’s opinion. “It was… a lot.”

“I think it was kind of funny,” Jonah said.

Poe grinned widely over at his new buddy. “See! Jonah, you’re my new pal,” he said, throwing an arm around them and patting their shoulder. “You’re the only one who knows  _ good  _ humor.”

“Poe, it was almost funny, but the fact that you took thirty seconds afterward to convince everyone why it was funny was what made me laugh,” Finn told him. 

Poe leaned back in his seat and threw his head back in defeat. “I’m being attacked. It’s just you and me against all these unfunny jerks, Jonah.” He turned a pointed, though teasing, look right at Finn. “My own boyfriend is turning against me.”

“Your own boyfriend has a sense of humor,” Rey threw in. 

The rest of lunch went smoothly after that, and Jonah had more and more input as the conversation went on. They got along the best with Rose, who would lean across the table and high five them every time they said something really funny, which seemed to relax them more every time. When everyone split up to go their own ways, Poe gave Finn a parting kiss, and then threw an arm back around Jonah. 

“Hey, you ever need anything, you let me know, okay?” he said. He wanted to stay and talk more, but he had to go talk with Leia. “And if you want, you’re always welcome to sit with us.”

Jonah looked over at him gratefully, a shy smile spreading across their face. “Thank you, Poe,” they said. “See you around?”

“Definitely,” he said, patting their back and beginning to move away toward Leia’s office. “Anytime, buddy!” He smiled and turned around, feeling a surge of pride in his chest. He still couldn’t believe  _ he  _ inspired someone as awesome as Jonah so much, but it felt good to have gotten to know them. It felt good to make a new pal. 


End file.
